WE are now a few weeks on from the Challenge Cup success against St Helens at Wembley.

As I said in the immediate aftermath of the game, we saw a coaching masterclass delivered by Steve Price on the day which enabled us to beat St Helens.

As a business we are still working out the financial benefits of the final.

We will have our share of the ticket sale from the day, as will St Helens, and there is merchandising too, all of which is a direct financial impact.

There is also a £100,000 prize for winning the competition itself.

But there is also an indirect benefits, particularly in terms of our partners and sponsors.

We were able to expose our brand to a much wider audience in terms of broadcasting and coverage of the game.

 

Almost one million people watched the final on the BBC.

So next year when we are discussing extensions with our partners, those factors can come into play.

Of course there is also a cost to being in a final and winning.

Warrington Guardian:

We pay bonuses for the players and the coaches on winning trophies and rightly so.

It can also be quite expensive to a club just in being at Wembley – or the Grand Final for that matter.

We are talking about putting up around 200 people maybe, when you add in players, club staff, the wives and children of players, in hotels.

For the players that is for three nights, for everyone else that is two.

So that can become quite expensive.

But we want to provide the best for the player in terms of their preparations so that is absolutely the right thing to do.

But all of these factors have a bearing on the overall financial impact of winning a trophy.

We have now secured out place in the play-offs.

And I think we have plenty left in the squad as we come to the biggest games of the season.

We have a tremendous record in knockout football and we hope that continues.

Attention is already turning to next season of course and our membership will be available for 2020 from the end of September or early October.

Attendances have been up this year and we are hoping the Challenge Cup success can help too – especially in a few target markets for us.

Finally, as I have said before, we have a real focus on our youth development.

We really want to improve the coaching in the amateur system in Warrington.

To that end, we will be looking to advertise for a role of a person who can roll out coaching to the people who coach young people who are learning the game.